Material handling problems have plagued many facilities, forcing them to develop various techniques and methods to better situate materials throughout a system to enhance productivity and efficiency. However, transporting such materials in an industrial setting to designated areas has proven to be an continuously-evolving process. The most obvious solution incorporated by many is the use of forklift devices that permit the lifting of crates, containers and various packaged materials and move them from location to location throughout a plant, warehouse or facility. However, this solution also inherently creates additional concerns, for example, forklifts must be able to effectively move throughout a system, meaning that appropriate spacing and clearance must be available for the forklifts to reach all areas where materials must be introduced or removed from the system. Furthermore, forklifts pose additional costs to companies, particularly those costs associated with the purchasing, maintaining, and storing the forklift equipment, as well as the costs of providing safety measures to protect people operating and working around the forklifts.
Additionally, many companies do not have the resources available to maintain and design their production systems so that forklifts can effectively be used to transport materials in containers from various loading and unloading stations. Despite continuing efforts to achieve a more effective device by which to facilitate the loading and unloading of containers to industries, such devices have not been introduced which reduce the costs associated with the current devices designed to achieve the desired results. The present invention enables companies to effectively and easily load and unload heavy containers at a variety of designated locations. The dolly device generally includes a base having a lower portion supported by roller devices, such as wheels, a support surface mounted to the base on which a container is to be placed, a control frame mounted above the base and support surface which pivots, facilitating the loading and unloading of the container, and a locking mechanism having at least one locking position to hold the control frame in a stop position. The support surface generally comprises friction reducing members to facilitate the movement of the container relative to the dolly device while it is being loaded onto or unloaded from the dolly device. The base can also be configured to enable the loading and unloading of a container by aligning the support surface with the container at the relative station, more particularly it could include an adjustable assembly which accommodates various loading/unloading heights and substantially eliminates any lifting of the container relative to the dolly device. In addition, the dolly device of the present invention provides a very effective tool in the materials handling arena which reduces costs, providing an effective alternative to forklifts and other comparable mechanisms.